Life
by WisteriaReads
Summary: A series of one shots that go through the ups and downs in the lives of the characters in the DC world, where we learn the things not said in the manga and a couple of my own day dreams. Not told in chronological order. Requests are welcome. Canon pairings still apply.
1. Chapter 1-Graveyard Visits

**Chapter 1- Graveyard visits**

A young man walked through the desolate rows of family graves, head bent as if to shield himself from the autumn breeze. He registered the stone memorials with a slightly mournful look before he hastened to his destination, only taking a second to wrap his coat tighter around him. He finally stopped at one stone memorial, one that looked very much like the rest of the other memorials in the graveyard, albeit the name carved into the face of it: Kuroba Toichi.

"Oyaji…" Kaito murmured with a wistful tone, staring at the stone face with melancholy. He carefully placed a bouquet of gladiolas, chrysanthemums and pink carnations in the vase that were provided and lit a couple sticks of incense, inserting them into the container beside it.

"It's been a while, Oyaji." Kaito stated plainly, allowing his arms to drop to his side as he stared at his father's grave. "A lot has changed since last year, the last time I came to visit you." Despite it being years after his father had died, Kaito still found it hard to communicate his words like this. His words always lodged in his chest, leaving a heavy and bitter taste in his mouth. After all, it reminded Kaito of all the things that Kaito would never say to his father, or the words that his father would never get to say in return.

* * *

 _7 years earlier…_

Kaito stared dejectedly out the window from the windowsill, the world seemingly leached of all colour, leaving only the monotonous tones and shades. It had been a year since his father had died, that terrible and memory scarring day. It had been a year in which he barely responded unless spoken to and he lacked the animated gusto that he once had when his father had been alive.

It was a cold October day, the wind picking up slightly. And it was also the day that Kaito hated most.

"Kaito… Are you ready?" His mother's voice called out from downstairs, breaking Kaito from his morbid reverie. He nodded curtly, even though he knew that his mother couldn't see him and grabbed his scarf from the chair, winding it around his throat.

"Hai…"He answered tonelessly back as he trudged down the steps. His mother gave him a smile before extending her hand out for Kaito to hold onto, which he did hesitantly.

"How has those magic tricks been coming along?" Chikage asked, a vain attempt to strike a conversation with her son. Kaito shrugged impassively in response. He didn't particularly want to tell her that he hadn't been doing magic recently. _What was the point?_ He thought. _There's no point if I can't share the dream with Oyaji._ The rest of the journey was accompanied by an almost awkward silence until they reached their destination.

Kaito hated coming here, with their intimidating ashen pillars looming above him. The wind blew and Kaito shivered, not from the cold but the thought that the wind was almost like the dead's whispers. He couldn't bear to think that his dad was now not a part of this world. He wanted to forget everything: the pain of losing his father, the dreams he once had. Everything.

He remembered watching his father's show on television, the fascination as he pulled off stunts and tricks that befuddled even critics who were looking on, the elation as his father accomplished the near impossible and the pride that surged through him after every trick.

"That's my dad!" He had yelled, pointing at the screen as if there was someone next to him that needed to be persuaded.

But that delight soon burned up, like gasoline over dry wood. One trick backfired terribly, leading to an inferno which engulfed the stage.

"We're here, Kaito." His mother gently said, slowly unclasping her hand from his, startling him from the flashback of fire and screams. She lay a small polystyrene box before the gravestone and smiled nostalgically.

"I brought your favourite buns from that Chinese takeaway from around the corner. I don't know if you are being fed up there as well as you were here, so take it as a treat." She said, smiling at the name engraved. She suddenly scowled before she dug in her pockets. Her hand eventually emerged from her pocket with a white cotton handkerchief.

"Are you even taking care of yourself, Anata? Your gravestone is so dirty." She exclaimed, wiping at the gravestone and its surroundings. Kaito felt tears spring up from the back of his, but he refused to let them fall.

"I hope you're not flirting up there! You have to wait for me. I won't forgive you if you've run off with someone else." Chikage spouted suddenly, a small joking smile across her face. At this, Kaito curled his fingers into a small tight fist, which trembled with the effort and left his fingernails digging into the palm of his hand.

"How?..." he asked, his voice quavering slightly. "How can you act so carefree, as if Oyaji was still alive? Is it some joke to you? Or have you already completely forgotten about him? Do you even miss him at all?!" He demanded, looking up at his startled mother with defiant eyes, his voice cracking with grief. His mother's eyes softened and she kneeled down to his level. She took hold of her son's wrist and drew him to her chest, where for the first few seconds, he stood still and stiffened.

"I do miss him. Terribly so… And no, to answer your question. I haven't forgotten him. I've just accepted the fact and moved on. I still remember him, of course. But instead of the ripping sadness I experienced in the weeks after his death, I now remember him with a fond melancholy. It's still there but it has gotten better. That's the way he would have wanted us to remember him." She said softly, rubbing Kaito's back to soothe him. Yet Kaito still refused to let the tears fall.

"I want to forget the pain. I want to forget everything…" He mumbled, his vision blurring up with unshed tears. His mother shook her head and held his shoulders.

"No, Kaito. That won't do at all. There's a reason why we bear the burden and why we remember, even if it's horrible to experience. It's to preserve the lost in our minds. But if you forget, they will truly be forgotten and no-one will carry on the great stories about the people we love. So in some odd sense, you need the pain because with time, it becomes one of fondness and nostalgia." She replied, taking her child back into an embrace. With this, Kaito finally let out a strangled sob and buried his head into his mother's shoulder. At this age, he was aware that he was a bit too old to cry so openly, but he just didn't care.

"Your father had the amazing ability to make people smile. And because of that, everyone around him always smiled and laughed and he ended up being just as happy as those that he made smile. It became part of his code of how to be happy. He would hate seeing you like this. So cheer up. Make some people smile and when they do, think of your father. For as long as someone smiles due to your actions, he will always be there." She murmured softly, her son's sobs coming to a halt and his eyes widened as he took in the words.

"As long as someone smiles, he will always be there…" he echoed back and it finally hit him. He would try to make people laugh and smile for the rest of his life in order to achieve that small connection with his father. He stayed there, his head propped on his mother's shoulders and smiled slightly, sniffling as one might do when one's finished crying.

"Thank you, Kaa-san. I'll remember that…" He mumbled softly and his mother smiled in relief.

"Not at all. I'm glad that it's helped you…We have to get going, Kaito. It's already three in the afternoon." His mother exclaimed, looking at her watch with surprise. She held out her hand for Kaito to take, and he did so, not before wiping his nose with his sleeve.

"I really wish you didn't do that. Do you want to be wearing the same piece of clothing which you just wiped your snot on?" She asked, with a slight tone of distaste and exasperation. Kaito shrugged in response and looked up at his mother with an apprehensive smile, his face still streaked with tears. They left the graveyard hand in hand, laughing and discussing what to have for dinner, all of the previous anguish faded, like morning fog against the blaring Sun.

* * *

 _Back to present day…_

Kaito opened his eyes from that memory, taking a deep inhale to calm himself down. He had kept to that promise to himself since that day. It was the reason he pranked so much and joked on everyone. There was no point dwelling on the past and being upset about it. He let out a heavy sigh before continuing with what he was saying.

"Do you remember, two years back, when I confessed about knowing you were the original Kaito Kid? And that I had found the men who killed you?" He asked, his fingers curling into a tight ashen fist at the memory of Snake and his colleagues. "Well….It's over. I can officially say that it is over. Pandora… has been found." Kaito confessed, smiling tiredly as he raked his hand through his already unruly hair.

"It turned out to be in the world's largest ruby, which meant that its red glow when held up to the moonlight wasn't as strong. I only found it when I was scouting the heist stop with Aoko, when I noticed something dark inside the gem. I found that moonlight was best but candlelight would also work. It was a good thing that the display had real candles around the ruby. I mean Oyaji, you should have seen it! It was so ostentatious and showy! As if it wanted to be stolen." He laughed, remembering the flashy display of the ruby.

"So later that night, I sent out a note informing the owner of what was inside, with a riddle, mind you. That piqued their interest and it also meant I had one less thing on my ever growing criminal list. The owner agreed to open up the ruby to see what was inside, although with a huge sum of money in return. And also, I sent a notice to the Tokyo Metropolitan about The Syndicate. As it turns out, Tantei kun, also had a similar problem. Do you remember me telling you about him? An interesting case, that kid." He said, thinking back to his miniature rival who was the one of the only people who was on par with him in intellect.

He remembered how his glasses would reflect the light in such a way that it shrouded his eyes, or the smirk he wore when he solved one of his notes or the method behind his tricks. It was as much fun for Kaito as it was for the chibi detective.

"Around the same time that I sent out the note, Tantei kun was dealing with those insane people that tried to blow me up. I helped him take That Organisation down, and since the two organisations were interlinked, he was effectively doing me a huge favour by destroying Them, so I didn't ask for anything else."

"So with the Organisation down and Pandora's secret still unknown, as well as no casualties, I say this was a success. Just yesterday, I performed my last ever heist. Tantei kun figured out my identity during this time. Turns out he's not actually a seven year old. He's seventeen but stuck in that body due to an untested drug by That Organisation. I told him my reason for stealing and though he was shocked, he let it slide. So the suit has been taken down and stored away. My days as a thief are over… Actually, I'm still keeping the suit. I think I look dashing in it." He stated, a cheeky smirk gracing his lips.

"That and I'm very tempted to don up the suit again when I feel bored. Poor Nakamori keibu is going to have no fun at all while I'm gone and I'll go mad out of my mind if there's no excitement. The excitement you get at a heist really is addicting…" he shrugged, thinking of the exhilaration of the chase, the adrenaline through his veins as he flew off into the night sky and the glee he felt after outwitting the entire third division. He glanced at his watch and took a double take.

"Shoot! I was so supposed to meet up with Aoko after this! Where has all the time gone, Oyaji? One minute I have a half an hour to be with you and the next it's gone! Anyway, I have some business to attend to…" he hastily said, quickly laying down the polystyrene box filled with buns from the same Chinese takeaway. He quickly gave a deep nod of his head before he left, almost bouncing in step. The trees swayed and in the distance, one could hear a wind-chime tingle from a nearby tree, no doubt put on by a small child. But as Kaito walked off, it was almost like the wind was whispering wishes of good luck for the soon to be childhood couple.

* * *

 **End**

 **That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be… Oh well, it's done. I've always been curious as to what Kaito felt during those times as a child. Just in case you didn't know, the flowers that Kaito brings all translate to a different thing in the language of flowers. Pink carnations stands for remembrance, gladiolas for sincerity and chrysanthemums for loss or grieving. Weird how I have the ending planned out but not the actual middle of it… Requests are welcome. Though they have to show the ups and downs of life, not just the good parts. I already have some ideas but having other people's input would be great.**


	2. Chapter 2- Being Absent-Minded

**Again… based on my own experiences with the pesky things which will be revealed in due time. At this moment of time, Shinichi is already Conan and Haibara has been introduced.**

"Ai kun! Where are you?" shouted Hakase, his voice echoing through the Agasa household. Agasa hastily ran down the stairs, to try and find the brunette chemist somewhere.

"She hasn't come back yet from school…"muttered Shinichi, from the sofa. Hakase jumped in surprise and leaned over the sofa to find Shinichi lying bored on the sofa, a manga that Mitsuhiko kun had given him held up between his hands. His keen azure eyes glanced up at the startled professor. Conan noted distantly that in place of his usual glasses, a pair of goggles now was pushed back to his forehead, his glasses folded neatly in the breast pocket of his lab coat.

"What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you still be at school?" Hakase demanded.

"Haibara decided to go to the supermarket with Ayumi chan. Plus you said you wanted to show me a new invention of yours." He answered somewhat tonelessly.

"Yes… yes… I'll show it to you once you do me a favour." He said, a slight plea in his tone. At this, Conan looked up, slightly concerned.

"What's up, Hakase? ...If you're going to ask me to help you get food that Haibara said you can't have, I'm not helping you." Conan added, thinking back at the evil-eyed yawny scientist's ice cold glare, a crease appearing between his brows. At that moment, the two both heard the click of the door and the quiet tread of Ai's footsteps. Hakase let out a sigh of relief as the shrunken scientist came into view, an apathetic look on her face.

"Great! Now I can have more help!" Agasa proclaimed. The two shrunken teens glanced at each other, Haibara's a questioning look and Conan's a look that said "I have no clue." Conan shrugged his shoulders before turning to the professor once more.

"So what was this favour that you needed?" he asked with a slight raise of the eyebrow. Haibara had slung her bag off and stood next Conan, her arms folded across her chest.

"Please be quick, Hakase. I've left my experiments in a somewhat dangerous state that could blow this house to smithereens." Haibara stated coolly, ignoring the looks of shock from the two men at her abrupt statement of the house being blown up.

 _You're saying it like you need to drink a cup of tea before it gets cold… not like we're all in danger or anything…_ Conan reflected, sweatdropping

"Right! If I don't have this favour done, I won't be able to make any more new gadgets and toys!" he said somewhat frantically.

" _Your toys always end up backfiring and not working, Hakase…. When will you realise that you should give up this dream?"_ Conan thought with a smirk.

"Hakase… what are you trying to say?" Haibara asked aloofly, looking up at the professor with a calm and emotionless face. Agasa rubbed the back of his neck ruefully, laughing slightly awkwardly.

"Truth be told…. I can't find my glasses anywhere..." He stated, embarrassed. A long silence ensued. So quiet was this silence that Conan could hear the faint drip of the tap from the kitchen, the chirping birds outside and he thought absently if it were possible to hear all the thoughts that were churning round in his head in this silence.

"You're kidding me…" the two shrunken teens said simultaneously. The professor blinked in confusion, taking a step back due to the intensity of their tones. Another awkward silence followed.

Conan looked at the professor with half lidded eyes, a satiric gape on his face. Haibara was gawking at the professor, her mouth slightly agape before she plucked her bag from the ground and stormed to the door of her laboratory.

Turning back round with displeasure, she glared at the professor. "Call me back when you _actually_ have something interesting…" She spun on her heel and slammed the door. Hakase looked shocked at this, confusion evident on his face.

"I wonder what's wrong with Ai-kun?" he pondered aloud, still looking at the shut door. Conan facepalmed and sighed in exasperation.

"Hakase…. You do realise that you're wearing it? In your breast pocket?" Conan supplied, stalking off as the professor hastily patted his lab coat down. Hakase whooped in relief when he felt the familiar form of his glasses in his pocket.

"I've been looking all over for it!" he stated contently, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his bulbous nose.

"And he says that he's a genius…." Conan muttered under his breath, picking up the manga from where he was and flopping back onto the sofa.

 **Short, and relatively useless, but a stupid plot bunny that kept bugging me.**


	3. Chapter 3-Chocoholic

**Chocoholic**

 **Sorry this has come so late. Writers block isn't nice. But I hope this makes up for the... months of absence... Where did the headcannon that Kaito loves confectionary come from anyway?**

It was a bright, ordinary Monday morning when Kaito stalked into the classroom, an air of apathy and irritation bearing down on him like a huge thundercloud. He dumped his bag unceremoniously next to his desk, tugged the chair out harshly with his foot and collapsed forwards onto the desk, where he stared at blank space with a slightly open mouth.

"What happened to you, zombie?" Hakuba asked with a smirk, barely looking up from his "Hounds of Baskerville". Kaito angled his face to see Hakuba's prudent one and grunted something incoherent.

"Hmm? I didn't quite hear you." Hakuba teased, earning him a scowl from the magician. Suddenly the door banged open and Aoko strode in, looking very satisfied with herself.

"Aoko…That's what happened…." Kaito mumbled, glaring at the messy haired girl, who wiggled her fingers playfully in mock acknowledgement. Kaito rolled his eyes and faced the other way. Hakuba raised an eyebrow. While it was normal for Kaito to be slightly peeved off with Aoko, it seemed that the atmosphere around the two had… swapped, somehow. Usually, Kuroba was the gleeful one, the one playfully doing tricks, while Aoko was that of displeasure, especially after Kuroba had flipped her skirts. _Just what had happened?_ Hakuba wondered wearily.

At that moment, Konno sensei walked in, slamming a stack of papers onto the desk. The students hastily got up and bowed, before the class began.

"Right. I need you to hand in those creative writing pieces now." She ordered, walking through the aisles of desks and collecting the sheets of paper. Her eyes scanned the pieces, nodding appreciatively when she saw something she liked. Saguru handed his in before she moved onto the rest of the aisle. Eventually she walked past Kaito's seat, putting her hand out expectantly as Kaito rummaged through his bag. She scanned the paper before her brows knit together in confusion.

"Kuroba kun? What is this?" she asked, holding up the piece of paper with a perplexed expression. Kuroba sat up slightly sluggishly and looked at her.

"It's my creative writing." He answered monotonously. She shook her head in response.

"It _is_ your creative writing. But I had asked for "A time when you went to an interesting place." Not your feelings about how chocolate melts in your mouth." She chided. Kuroba's eyes went glassy, a dream like smile spreading across his face.

"It's like the softest velvet that trickles down your throat, warming every crevice." He said dreamily. Konno sensei looked at a loss at this, before she coughed lightly.

"It's a very good piece and all, but I want you rewrite the essay with the appropriate title. Due for Thursday." She finally said, moving forwards. Kaito slumped again once the teacher had left.

Then something in Hakuba clicked. _Listless?... writing essays about chocolate?... Nakamori chan sure is evil…_ Hakuba thought with a cringe.

"So how _did_ you stop him eating chocolate?" Hakuba asked, having finally caught up with the brunette girl and her listless friend, who was just trudging along with seemingly no concept of where he was going.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of trouble Aoko had to go through to make sure this idiot here didn't eat any chocolate!" she exclaimed, making exaggerated gestures with her arms.

"Trouble for you? More like a disaster for me…" Kaito muttered, stumbling out from his daze.

* * *

 _(Flashback)_

"Aww! Aoko! You didn't have to get me a present!" Kaito exclaimed as he accepted the box of chocolates from Aoko, who smiled back.

"Well… Aoko had a spare box and I thought you needed it." She replied, shrugging flippantly.

"It's chocolate, isn't it? You shouldn't have!" he remarked, yanking the lid off before his grin fell like a boulder sinking in the sea. A long silence ensued, Kaito still gaping down at the box.

"Aoko? What is this?" he asked, looking slightly confused at the item in hand. Inside the box was a simple CD. A CD that had as its heading "How to get over unhealthy habits." Not a single chocolate in sight.

"Aoko felt sorry for you when you had to go the dentist, yet again about the amount of sugar you ate. So Aoko thought if Aoko helped you stop eating as many sweets, you won't have to spend so much money on dentist appointments. I just shoved the CD in a spare box I found since I couldn't find the case for the CD." She replied, shrugging.

Kaito seemed shell-shocked before he recovered his senses, closing his mouth and a devious grin creeping across his face. He then dashed up the stairs. He opened his wardrobe and dug his hands into the back of the wardrobe, feeling around for a secret panel. After his fingers brushed against a small indent, he slid the cover off and rummaged around.

"Nothing! I swear I had chocolate in here…." He mumbled before getting up and moving to the corner of his room. He knelt down in a certain spot and tugged a loose floorboard out, once again rummaging in the space.

"You won't find anything in here. Aoko took all your chocolates out." Said a proud voice from behind him. Kaito whipped around and gaped in shock at what his childhood friend said. She had crossed her arms across her chest, a cool smirk across her lips as she leaned on the doorframe. Kaito huffed loudly before he ran past her, back down the stairs. He viciously tore through the house, combing through the cabinets, the shelves and even lifting up the vase to find his secret stash of the confectionary.

"You really don't get it, do you? I have taken _every_ last piece of chocolate. There is nothing here." She said, coming up behind a panting Kaito. He glared at her before a smirk spread across his face.

" _You're_ the only that doesn't get it. There's no chocolate in _this_ house. I can just buy some more." Kaito exclaimed, an excited glimmer in his eyes. He quickly grabbed his coat and ran out to the nearest convenience store.

(Several hours later)

The door slammed, echoing around the house, and the disgruntled Kaito slowly tugged his shoes off. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing! They wouldn't sell me anything!" Kaito exclaimed as he came through the doorway, to find Aoko sitting placidly on the sofa, reading a book.

"What are you doing here?" Kaito asked. Aoko looked up briefly and continued with her book.

"I waited here because I couldn't be bothered to chase you all that way. I'm ill and ill people need to rest." She replied, turning a page.

Sitting down on an armchair diagonal from Aoko, he leaned forward, a suspicious glare in place. "Do you know anything about this, Aoko? None of the shops let me buy any chocolate." To his surprise, Aoko unlocked her phone skilfully without looking at it, tapped a bit on the screen before holding up the phone, still reading her book.

A short video was playing. One which showed him wreaking havoc in the classroom, with multi-coloured smoke sometimes obscuring the camera, occasional showers of confetti hailing down and most of all, the shrieks of the girls and hollers from Hakuba and Konno sensei. When the smoke cleared, the classroom was a mess; splotches of colour scattered disorderly around the classroom and several pigeons sitting on bookshelves. Some even had the audacity to poo on books and student's heads alike. And amongst the anarchy, Kaito stood in the middle of the room, completely unscathed and grinning like a maniac.

"Aoko went to various shop keepers around the Beika-Ekoda region and told them that Aoko would try to stop this happening in their store, if only they stop selling you chocolate. They agreed willingly." She said flippantly, answering Kaito's mental question.

 _(Flashback ends)_

* * *

"So basically, you took away his chocolate and bribed the shopkeepers to not sell him chocolates…" Hakuba finished, cutting Aoko short of her story. She pouted before she smiled brightly.

"Yep! It's a brilliant idea, no? And it's completely flawless!" She declared arrogantly, her chin held high.

Looking at her dead in the eye, Hakuba said in a deadpan fashion. "Yeah… it would have been a _spectacular_ plan in the 18th century." He said, rolling his eyes. "But there's the internet. Can't he just go and buy online the chocolate that isn't in the Beika-Ekoda region? Like in Hokkaido? Or Osaka?" Aoko stopped walking abruptly, her face of absolute shock.

"Shoot… I completely forgot about it…. Aoko should have gotten Dad to issue a national chocolate ban for Bakaito. Jii-chan is ill, so he shouldn't be able to even leave the house, let alone go to some far-fetched place to get chocolate…" She muttered, cupping her chin in thought. Hakuba sweatdropped at the thought of how desperate Kaito might be to drive somewhere else in Japan in his search for chocolate, before turning to look at Kaito, who was still in a daze.

"To be honest, I don't think it'll matter either way. I mean, do you really think that his brain at the moment is functioning properly?" Hakuba asked, pointing his chin at Kaito's direction. The magician was still in a trance like state, so oblivious to his surroundings that Aoko had to yank him to the side to prevent him colliding into a lamp post.

Aoko hummed out a sound of agreement. "I guess. But we should tell the other students not to bring up that subject. Otherwise it might trigger something." Aoko replied, tugging the apathetic prankster by the elbow, directing him to the general direction of both of their houses.

* * *

It was a couple of days into the chocolate free regime and Kaito was in the library, on a desktop computer, looking at the screen with a bored expression. Suddenly an excited air permeated from him, bolting upright in his chair.

"I know! I can make my own chocolate!" He declared. His fingers hit the keyboard with renewed vigour as he checked out the ingredients.

"Right… Sugar…I've got that at home… Sugar… yep… Milk…." He muttered under his breath as he scrolled through the ingredients required. He suddenly frowned.

"Lecithin? That's an emulsifier… Where the hell am I supposed to get that?! I can't get it at the convenience store! And what is this? Cocoa butter?! Chocolate liquor?! I thought I just had to roast a couple of cocoa beans!" he yelled out, tugging his hair harshly with frustration.

"Speaking of which…. I wonder how much cocoa beans are….."He asked to himself, his fingers tapping across the surface.

"It's WHAT!? I can only get them in tonnes?! They're THAT much?!" he exclaimed suddenly, bolting out from his chair, receiving glares from the librarian and students alike. He hastily glanced round before packing up and sulked off.

* * *

"Nakamori chan!" someone called from across the playing field. Aoko curiously turned to face the person who said her name and was greeted by a boy, red faced and panting. He bent down, trying to catch his breath before he hastily stood up, a look of urgency on his face.

"Nakamori chan, you have to give Kuroba chocolate." He insisted forcefully. Aoko frowned and raised her eyebrow.

"Why should I….."she started.

"He's insane! I was walking, just completely content and about to eat my chocolate bar when all of a sudden, this falling mass of boy drops from the sky!" The boy elaborated, his arms flailing around in wild gestures, his tone becoming increasingly rapid, as if in a panic. "He then starts wrestling me to the ground and tries to snatch my chocolate! He looked like a rabid dog! My friends had to forcefully restrain him. And then…. He bit them! He actually BIT them!" The boy cried out in shock, running his hands through already dishevelled hair. Aoko grimaced, hoping that the poor boy got the bite treated.

"Still… No." she replied indifferently as she turned around and began to head towards the school gates. The boy gaped at her before running up to her, grabbing her shoulder tightly.

"You HAVE to! He's gone insane! It's…." he pleaded, eyes glistening from unshed tears.

 _He's that traumatised?_ Aoko thought with a slight pang of guilt before she pulled herself together, plastering what she hoped was a sincere and understanding smile.

"Aoko is sure that this is all just a phase and that once Kaito finally gets into the swing of things, it'll calm down." She answered, patting his shoulder reassuringly. She walked out of the school gates and she swore that as she turned around the corner, she heard a soft thud, like a heavy weight dropped onto the ground.

* * *

"So….. I heard on the grapevine that you bit someone in a rabid fit for chocolate yesterday. Care to explain it?" Hakuba asked Kaito, who lay slumped forward in his chair. Hakuba would be lying if he said that this wasn't funny to watch. It was nice to finally relax without the prankster pulling tricks and pranks on everyone. He could read in peace!

"Jii chan is ill. I was going to go to Hokkaido to get some more chocolate… Anxiety plus prolonged chocolate in-exposure equals intense urge to consume chocolate." he mumbled, pouting somewhat petulantly. Hakuba chuckled before the weight of what he said hit him like a freight train.

"Wait…. Are you actually serious? You're not kidding? You were going to go to Hokkaido?!" Hakuba gaped. Kaito frowned and shot him a face that said _Yeah I was. What's so weird about that? Deal with it._ Hakuba gave a dry chuckle.

"I can't believe it… You're properly desperate…. Like…. House wife desperate…." He muttered, disbelief colouring his tone. "You're actually being serious….." he continued to mutter as he tuned away. Coming up from behind Aoko, he lay his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and gave him a confused look before he shook his head and nodded his head towards the callous boy with perpetual bed hair.

"You've got a hard nut to crack, Aoko chan…. A ridiculously hard nut…"He answered her confused look, patting her shoulder reassuringly as he shouldered his bag and left for his next class.

* * *

The next week was hell. For the entire school. Aoko's plan had back-fired spectacularly. The day after the rapid chocolate incident, it only plunged deeper and deeper.

Students came back on Monday to the school only to find the entire school now had the exterior design of a UFO. How this was possible, none of the staff nor the students could have given any explanation. The next day, upon entering the school, they found that everything, absolutely EVERYTHING, had been stuck on the ceiling. It was almost as if someone had flipped the entire school with a mirror, for everything was in the exact same place as it was when on the ground. On Wednesday, every classroom was jam packed with farm animals. Students fled around the corridors as they were hounded by a gaggle of geese. On Thursday, the floor layered with a variety of different coloured paints, making it a serious skidding and sliding hazard. The worst part was that whenever the students entered the classroom, Kaito would be sitting there, his face a mask of indifference and boredom. His pranks were no longer something to entertain, as it had been with the previous pranks. They had become a way of distracting himself from deprivation of chocolate.

Action took place on Friday. Kaito was suspended for the next week, to "get his act together". The students knew that in reality, there was no punishment that the teachers could give without blowing their own lid off. Better off fixing their own stress and anxiety rather than reforming a hyperactive prankster.

So when Kaito returned the following Monday, he was greeted with strangled yelps, attempts to flee, cautious looks but most of all, he was offered chocolate. Not just a small box of Lindt or Cadbury bar. The students realised what a dangerous force Kaito was without chocolate and it became an unwritten rule that Kaito would have to be provided chocolate at a regular basis. He had practically become a dump for anything chocolate. Each time he was offered chocolate, a wide Cheshire cat grin split across his face and they would be left unscathed in future pranks. This routine lasted for another two weeks and it had gotten to the point that all his secret storages in his house were full to the brim, the floors littered with various boxes of chocolate and the linen closet had become a chocolate closet.

Kaito recounted these events as he picked up a dark chocolate ganache and plopped it into his mouth, leafing through a magazine back in his house. He gave a self-satisfied smirk.

 _I admit…. Some of it was a bit of an overkill…. But… my plan to get more chocolate than before worked, at least…_


End file.
